161 Abraham Gross GERONA: A SEPHARDIC CRADLE OF ...

Identifying an Alfasi Gloss-Supplement in a Gerona Fragment
the Geronese academy of Nahmanides. A student
of Nahmanides, Shelomoh ibn Aderet refers to him
as , and Nahmanides himself refers to him as
a respected decision-maker, so he can be placed in
Gerona in the mid-13nth century. Earlier this year
I have published the remains of his composition of
Alfasi Rosh Ha-Shanah. His work is peculiarly
oft quoted by name in the Novellae on Talmud of
Yom Tov Asevilli, but is otherwise, practically unmentioned
by the other talmudists. Unmentioned,
but not unused. Many articles in the work in front
of us are clearly influenced by Isaac of Narbonne’s
composition. This skeletal type of recension is a
common trait in this genre, the Alfasi gloss-supplements.
The function of this genre is not to offer new
analysis of the Talmud text, but to enable the student
of (halakha) to understand the talmudic
langue of Alfasi, while supplying him with additional
halakhic information that Alfasi omitted.
The intention of the composer is to update the
Alfasi Code so it can continue to serve as the central
base text of Halakha, preserving it from obsolescence,
by allowing it to facilitate halakhic pluralism.
Thusly, the brilliance of the author is not
inherit in logical nuances, rather in the clarity of
his presentation, the scope of his sources and in
the virtuosity of his composition. So the authors
of this genre are practically obligated to build their
compositions on the foundations of the same works
of the previous generation.
In the Aragonese academy, in all four generations
after Nahmanides, we know of numerous
works of this type, in which the literary products
of each generation, serve as the skeletal texts
in the works of the next one. In Aragon the chain
starts with the students of Nahmanides, Aharon
ha-Levi Denaclara (R’ah) and Isaac of Narbonne.
In the next generation, in addition to the
author of this work, there are numerous other
compositions by unnamed students of Shelomoh
ibn Aderet that have recently been published.
One of these, found in a ms. in the Ginzburg Collection
in Moscow was published last year by A.
Shoshanah of the Ofeq Institute, had a profound
influence on Nissim Gerondi’s composition, the
14nth century work which is found alongside the
Alfasi in all the printed editions. This influence
is blatant not only in his agenda of debatable topics,
his choice of sources, questions and answers,
but even on a textual level as well, as whole articles
are virtually copied from one to another.
More often, articles in the Moscow ms. are reworded
by Nissim Gerondi are altered in the logical
order of the text, apparently for the sake of
clarity. The same correlation is found in our text
as well.
Notice the following example, found on
page 4, relating to the third saying (memra) of
Rabbi Yitzhaq found on 16b in the Bavli, paragraph
536 in Hilkhot Alfasi:
GERONA FRAGMENT
NISSIM GERONDI ON ALFASI
Fragm. 4, f. 2v (Fig. 2)
1. …..
2.
3. .
4.
5. .
6.
Fragm. 1, f. 1r (Fig. 3)
7.
8.
9. … …
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